Patient
I'm an established patient with Dr. Trusevich. No concerns with him as a physician but definitely have a concern with the office - which is also another important aspect of the total care that a patient receives. I'm currently on several medications for blood pressure. One of them is newer and does not yet come in a generic form (and is therefore very expensive). I expressed this DURING my appointment with Dr. Trusevich and requested a generic alternative that was less expensive. Dr. Trusevich gave me samples for the designer medication and a card to try to get the medication at a discounted rate. He promised that he would prescribe a generic alternative if the discount didn't work or was unsatisfactory. Later, the samples are gone and the medication (even with the discount) was still WAY more expensive than the generic price I get through insurance. SOOOOOO, I had to call the office to try to obtain the new script I had requested at my office visit. I spoke with Felicia who informed me that I (the patient and not a trained pharmacist) would need to call the insurance company to get a complete list of medications in the same "class" as the one I take but that are on the formulary so that Dr. Trusevich can select from one of them. Per Felicia, I could then call them back with this requested list in order to get the promised less expensive blood pressure medication order. I guess I'm now part of the extended office staff. Sarcasm aside - I don't feel it's appropriate to have a patient to try to obtain medication information. How would a patient know what to ask for or whether the information they were obtaining was appropriate? What if I missed a medication that would be more appropriate for my treatment because I'm not trained or familiar with what to ask? Seems/feels like there are some potential safety concerns here. Not sure whether to put this under bad customer service or lazy office staff. Neither one of those is very good. I really need this medication and it doesn't sound like the office is going to help so I guess in addition to trying to get this list of medications, I'll need to start looking around for another cardiologist with an office staff that provides better customer service. Unfortunate. Update 24-Dec-2020: I wanted to provide an update to this review and rating. The day after it posted, I received a call from Dr. Trusevich personally. He was extremely pleasant and professional (same as all my interactions with him). He said that the medication that I was needing to change was very common, that it has been in use for many years and didn't require a call to my insurance company for a list of alternatives/generics. He was apologetic for the confusion. He prescribed an alternative on the spot and immediately had the prescription called into my pharmacy. Thank you Dr. Trusevich for personally following-up on this with me. I really do appreciate it.